What would you do with this log?

[Forrest Forschmiedt]

This thing blew down on the empty half of my lot about a year ago during last spring's wind storms. A neighbor started helping me a couple weeks ago to clean up the mess it made of the lot.



It is either a pecan tree or mockernut hickory and what you see in the pic is about 50 ft long. The larger branches that I have cut and saved are in excellent shape with minimal cracking at the center that I just cut along to slice it in half before sealing the ends and stacking in my shop.

After sitting for a year or so, I'm a bit surprised at how much water is in the wood. When I put a ~20" log upright on my cutting block, a good amount of water puddles under it. I also expected more spalting when I cut into it but perhaps that depends on the wood being exposed so stuff can get into it.

I haven't had a chance to put any of this on the lathe yet but the wood database says it's harder than oak or maple. Oak and maple are around 1200 or 1300 on the janka hardness scale. Pecan and hickory are around 1800 to 1900.

 

[John Taliaferro]

Do you have a local wood turners group , we would make short work of that .

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Not pecan. A pecan will not grow a straight and long log like that. Not familiar enough with hickory to say but do you have a closer pic and some leaves?

 

[Richard Hash]

I agree, it doesn't look like any pecan/hickory/pignut that I'm familiar with. Just from the bark in the photo, my first impression was green ash...

 

[Charlie Knighton]

if hickory makes good tool handles but probably want to process green.....neighbor wanted vase from their hickory tree....there is a lot of waste and firewood in woodworking in general.....bil could not believe all the shavings from turning a bowl.....+ 1 for coring......but I never bought equipment for coring.....i think bil wanted to make something out of shavings

 

[Forrest Forschmiedt]

Do you have a local wood turners group , we would make short work of that .

I went to one of the meetings for the local AAW chapter but never really got involved with them. That's a good idea though. I can look up the contact email for the group on the AAW site and reach out.

 

[Drew Sumrell]

Hey Forrest, I see you are in Martinsville, VA so that could very likely be a hickory based on what I can see of the bark and the long trunk. Can you post some pics of the wood? End grain and long grain pics.
Hickory is very dense and heavy. Great for tool handles, self bows and super firewood. I haven't turned much of it but it will turn nicely. Very open grain though. Good luck with it.

 

[Gary Beasley]

If you know anybody with a smoker they will love the scrap for smoking.

 

[Forrest Forschmiedt]

Not pecan. A pecan will not grow a straight and long log like that. Not familiar enough with hickory to say but do you have a closer pic and some leaves?

Ok, you all got me googling more and I am now pretty certain it is white or mockernut hickory.

The tree has been down for a year or so but new growth was coming off the upper branches before we chopped it up. They were fresh shoots though and not mature enough to narrow down for sure.

I have a few trees next to my driveway, about 100 yards from that tree. One of these covers my driveway once a year with nuts. It also has a straight main trunk that goes up 40 or so feet before it spreads out. The leaves are correct per a few Google sources and the bark is correct. I found no reference in my searches for whether it was straight and tall before branching out or rangey starting lower. Could that be more of a result of where the tree grows? If it grows in a denser setting might it be taller before branching out? The two smaller ones shoot straight up also but they aren't as healthy as they are in too much shade from bigger trees.

I know from the Googling that there are 10 and 12 species of hickory/pecan native to North America. One page said there are as many as 19 species in the genus Carya. The only two that I found pictures or drawings of that the bark on this one is correct for are mockernut and pecan.

Now, having said all that, I only know what I found in a few sessions with Google. I am certainly subject to correction.

I'm attaching some pics of a couple chunks of the downed tree, shots of the standing tree bark and leaves, and nuts from the standing tree.

 

[Forrest Forschmiedt]

Here we have pics from the standing tree; nuts, leaves and the trunk.

 

[Forrest Forschmiedt]

If you know anybody with a smoker they will love the scrap for smoking.

I have a smoker and will most certainly be saving chunks for that.

 

[Forrest Forschmiedt]

Hey Forrest, I see you are in Martinsville, VA so that could very likely be a hickory based on what I can see of the bark and the long trunk. Can you post some pics of the wood? End grain and long grain pics.
Hickory is very dense and heavy. Great for tool handles, self bows and super firewood. I haven't turned much of it but it will turn nicely. Very open grain though. Good luck with it.

Didn't get an end grain pic. Have to put some steaks on the grill now though so maybe later if still in doubt.

 

[Drew Sumrell]

You absolutely have a hickory. Can't quite tell which specie. Cut some blanks up, seal the ends and store outside for a couple of months in a covered area out of the sun Enjoy!

 

[Bill Boehme]

The leaves appear to be hickory. You can do a positive ID by examining the end grain ,,, a magnifying glass will help.

 

[Gary Beasley]

From the walnut like interior its probably a version called black heart hickory. Dont know how many species of hickory that encompasses though.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I haven't seen dark heartwood in the hickory trees on my property in central Texas. There's some really nice feathering in that piece of crotch wood. I think that it would make a nice platter or very shallow bowl.

Hickory turns nicely when green. Once it is completely dry it's really hard. I guess that's why it is used for axe handles.

 

[Forrest Forschmiedt]

From the walnut like interior its probably a version called black heart hickory. Dont know how many species of hickory that encompasses though.

Searched a bit on that one but didn't find anything for black heart or black hearted hickory. Found that black hickory often refers to pignut hickory, but this is not pignut. The bark is rather different. Maybe it's a regional reference that shows further down the google search than I looked.

I did see there is a beer call Black Hearted from Olde Hickory Brewery though. I'd try that!

 

[Forrest Forschmiedt]

I haven't seen dark heartwood in the hickory trees on my property in central Texas. There's some really nice feathering in that piece of crotch wood. I think that it would make a nice platter or very shallow bowl.

Hickory turns nicely when green. Once it is completely dry it's really hard. I guess that's why it is used for axe handles.

Turned a couple pieces earlier today. Even green they benefit from a very sharp tool to reduce tearout.
I did a couple maple platters from crotch pieces that turned out nicely. Was hoping to get similarly good results from that crotch. Definitely don't want to make it too deep or I'd end up cutting away too much of the heart wood.

 

[Donovan Bailey]

I'm sure it is a nice old mockernut. A beautiful grain in the old growth that turns fine when green...but feels like you are turning and sanding a rock when it is dry. You will have some fine pieces out of this old gentleman.

 

[Forrest Forschmiedt]

Finished turning one hickory bowl today. I rough turned it a couple days ago but decided to finish turning it today instead of waiting as I had planned. Even wet it is hard and does indeed dull the gouge faster than other stuff I have been turning. Sanding also goes slow. I have been working through a pile of maple and this is very noticeably harder.

The pics in my previous post, by the way, are maple platters that I just put there to show the nice crotch grain. These new pics are the hickory bowl. It will require more sanding after drying then the grain should show better. Even after sharpening before a finishing pass, I had some tear out that I will have to work on reducing on future pieces. This piece has three tiny pith holes through it. I'm very curious to see if they crack out as it dries.

 

[Mike Adams]

I went to one of the meetings for the local AAW chapter but never really got involved with them. That's a good idea though. I can look up the contact email for the group on the AAW site and reach out.

Even craigslist is a good option. Lots of people haunt the free section looking for logs. That's how I found my bowls ;-). Also, there are plenty of turners who aren't in local chapters for one reason or another. I only joined mine this year because my work schedule changed enough that I may actually be able to attend one of their meetings.